China announces a five-year plan to develop vegan eggs and cultured meat

The Chinese government is focusing on shifting its food system away from traditional livestock farming as outlined in the recently released China Five Year Plan. The 14th plan of the strategy includes the category “Optimizing the Agricultural Science & Technology Development Strategy”, under which the government describes its intention to promote innovation between now and 2025 with the goal of focuses on eggs, dairy and plant-based proteins, along with a focus on emerging food technologies such as cultured meat.

The plan states the country's goals are based on “research and development of cell-cultured meat, synthesis of eggs, milk and oils, recombinant protein technology, development and production of nutritious foods, improved advancement and implementation of agricultural value-added products, ingredient integration and quality control, discovery of new food sources, big data, functional foods, molecular food development, food and innovation in food risk assessment and detection. ” This represents the first time China has explicitly focused on plant-based and cultured meat alternatives, rather than traditional animal products, in its national strategy.

China is the most populous country in the world with 1.4 billion people and growing. Josh Tetrick — co-founder and CEO of Eat Just, a California startup that produces both plant-based eggs and cultured meat — explains that when China makes this move, the rest of the world will listen. listen.

In a statement sent to VegNews, Mr. Tetrick said: “China is the largest consumer of eggs and meat in the world. So when China changes, especially in an area as important to the global economy as food production, the world takes notice and often turns to competition or partnership.”

China's goal is to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060 and Mr Tetrick welcomed that alternatives to traditional animal products will be part of the solution. “China is contributing by prioritizing new, innovative food categories that can have a profound impact on human and planetary health,” Mr. Tetrick said. “This nationwide strategic initiative can accelerate progress on national regulation of cultured meat, spur more research and investment into the alternative protein industry, and promote adoption of wider consumer acceptance of these products. In short, this is one of the most important policy actions in the history of alternative proteins.”

Plant eggs in China

As for the rest of the world, vegan alternatives to animal products are on the rise in China. At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Mr. Tetrick reported that some of China's largest companies and food manufacturers - including those backed by the government - were in direct contact with Eat Just with the desire to cooperate. Since then, the startup's eggs made from mung beans have made deep inroads in China.

Last January, China's leading fast food chain Dicos added Vegan Eggs to its menu at 500 locations, including three breakfast burgers, a bagel and a platter. “Western” light. The move, which involves replacing animal-sourced chicken eggs with vegan eggs (rather than just adding them to the menu), marks the first time a major fast food restaurant has swapped out a vegan product. of animal origin with a plant-based product on the regular menu.

China turns to alternative proteins

Popular Western restaurant chains are also adapting to plant-based demand in China. In 2020, Starbucks updated menus across its more than 4,000 locations in China to include new menu items made with plant-based products from Beyond Meat, OmniFoods (a Hong Kong-based famous for its pork alternatives) and OFast. Other international chains such as KFC, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and McDonald's have all tested plant-based options since 2020.

And while many Western companies are targeting Chinese consumers with new plant-based products, the country has a long history of consuming and producing alternative meats. So - there are also a number of local companies producing next-generation vegan proteins.

Homegrown vegan startup Starfield just closed a $100 million Series B funding round, the largest investment in plant-based protein in China to date. Founded in 2019, the startup — which is developing plant-based alternatives to popular items like chicken thighs, pork chops and beef — is available in 14,000 stores, including also Dicos. With the new capital, Starfield will open a large-scale manufacturing facility in hopes of making its products more accessible and affordable.

When it comes to cultured meat, GOOD Meat - a subsidiary of Eat Just - has had preliminary conversations with Chinese officials about entering the market. Currently, Singapore is the only country in the world that has granted regulatory approval for cultured meat — at the end of 2020 when the Singapore Food Authority allowed the sale of GOOD Meat's cultured chicken. Outside of China, Eat Just is focusing on entering the cultured meat market in the United States, where the regulatory framework is being established by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). processing coordination.